7 years ago, Seth and I started MyJersey Designs. We had an idea, no idea how to even start a business, and no clue if it would work. Building a business from scratch is hard, but it’s a whole lot easier when you get to build it alongside an incredible friend and business partner who works as hard as Seth does. Over those 7 years, MyJersey Designs has generated more than three quarters of a million dollars in revenue, and that includes only $19,000 in our first year. What started as a small idea turned into more than 5,000 customers having a MyJersey hanging somewhere in their home. One of the things I’m most proud of is that over those seven years, we spent $0 on marketing. That was intentional. Rather than putting money into advertising, we used that money to give back and donate to causes that were important to us. Being able to support organizations, teams, people and causes we cared about became one of the most rewarding parts of building MyJersey Designs. Of course, if you aren’t going to advertise, people still need to find you. For us, that meant relying almost entirely on word of mouth, and the only way that works is if you provide a top notch product and take great care of your customers. We counted on people seeing MyJerseys hanging at senior nights, seeing pictures on social media, hearing about us from another parent or coach, and then reaching out the following year because they wanted one for their senior or team. Our customers became our marketing, and we knew we had to make something they were proud enough of to tell other people about. Over the years, we had plenty of people encourage us to expand, go national, advertise and grow as big as we could. We always appreciated that because it meant people believed in what we were doing, but it never felt like the right move for us. Seth and I both have full time careers, and we knew that growing too quickly could come at the expense of the things that got us there in the first place. We were obsessed with making a great product and providing excellent service to our customers. If getting bigger meant compromising either of those things, we weren't interested. Looking back after seven years, I’m incredibly grateful. Grateful for what we were able to build, grateful for the opportunity to give back along the way, and especially grateful for the thousands of customers who trusted us with something that represented an important part of their lives. To everyone who bought a MyJersey, came back for another one, shared a picture, told a friend, recommended us to a team or simply encouraged us along the way, THANK YOU! And to Seth, I couldn’t have asked for a better friend and business partner to build all of this with. Seven years is worth celebrating, but this picture represents more than that. We’re incredibly proud of what we built. And we’re even more excited about what’s next. The next chapter of MyJersey is coming...stay tuned... 👀👀👀